Brisbane City Council says State Government should order owner to rebuild Broadway Hotel
Shocking images of a historic hotel’s flooded basement have emerged as Brisbane City Council demands the Palaszczuk Government force the owner to restore it to its former glory.
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SHOCKING images of a historic hotel’s flooded basement have emerged as Brisbane City Council demands the Palaszczuk Government force the owner to restore it to its former glory.
The roofless, graffitied, burnt-out wreck of the Broadway Hotel at Woolloongabba is unprotected from the elements and thousands of litres of water have flooded its basement.
The state heritage-listed pub has been ravaged by fires three time, in July 2010, October 2017 and September this year.
City Planning chairman Matthew Bourke said the State Government had the power to force the Broadway Hotel owner to restore the state heritage-listed building to its pre-fire condition.
He said it would be “appropriate” for the State to use section 84 of the Queensland Heritage Act to preserve the 128-year-old pub, which was “an important part of Queensland’s history”.
“They (the state) have the powers that sit there,” he said.
“I’m not going to throw thought bubbles out about why they (the state) don’t want to (use the Act) but council’s doing everything it can with the powers that we have to try and get a resolution to the matter.”
Cr Bourke said the council’s powers over the site, which come under the Building Act 1975, were “constrained” to fixing public safety and amenity issues and not threats to heritage.
BCC has issued two enforcement notices to the owner this year to fix public safety issues.
On November 12, the council issued a Show Cause Notice to the owner asking why it should not issue an enforcement notice regarding the hotel’s dilapidated condition.
Environment and Science Minister Leeanne Enoch said she had written to the Lord Mayor calling on the council to issue and enforcement notice, under the Building Act, to ensure the remaining Broadway Hotel structure was stabilised.
“Brisbane City Council only acted after pressure from the Palaszczuk Government to issue an enforcement notice to address public safety around the building,” she said.
“Without further enforcement action by Council the Broadway Hotel is at risk, particularly as the storm season approaches.”
A Department of Environment and Science spokesperson said it had “limited powers” to enforce repair and maintenance work, as the Queensland Heritage Act was restricted to minor works
But they said BCC had powers to require the owner to undertake work to stabilise and make the structure safe.
Ms Enoch said she issued a “pre-emptive” stop order to prevent potential demolition of the Broadway Hotel, which expired on December 3.
It is understood this stop order will be extended, and the department is continuing to obtain ongoing advice from its engineer.
Local Councillor Jonathan Sri (The Gabba) said “there’s been a lot of buck passing between the two levels of government” over which level of government should protect the pub.
He said the council should have issued notices to the owner to fix public safety issues far earlier and that he was sceptical of any assessment that the hotel was safe prior to late 2018.
“We reported that it was being used for drug dealing and for people shooting up and that sort of stuff,” he said.
He said it had been clear since at least 2016 that the heritage values of the site were deteriorating.
The council has written twice to the State Government, first in 2016, requesting expanded powers to allow BCC to demand maintenance and restoration works on heritage buildings.
All the council’ notices to the owner can be appealed, while any orders the Queensland Heritage Act can rarely be appealed.
In March 2017, the hotel became the site of a controversial development application designed by Majella Group, which was withdrawn by July 2018.
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